GREENSBORO, N.C. — The fire, the rush to evacuate, and the threat of an explosion were communicated to neighbors of the Weaver Fertilizer plant in Winston-Salem by a reverse 911 system.
When an emergency happens, you want to know as soon as possible.
Almost every county in our state has an emergency alert system that will send that message directly to your cell phone, home phone, and email.
The only catch-- you have to sign up for it!
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety has a list of every county's Emergency Management Agency. Along with the phone number, you'll see how which social media platforms they use, and on the very right on the table listing is their alert system.
As you scroll down to your county, just click the alert icon.
I picked Guilford County as an example and it took me right to the sign-up page. In Guilford County, the alert system used is called GEANI. It's free to sign-up.
Check out the listing of notifications when GEANI was used to alert a neighborhood. The last general alert was December 15, 2021, when the bomb squad was going to be in the area doing training. Before that, the GEANI system alerted folks in August about the search for a homicide suspect and when that person was captured.
Again, this kind of alert system is offered in almost every county. It's free and the alert can go to your cellphone, home phone, or email. Look here for your county.
The Weaver Fertilizer plant caught fire on January 31, 2022. There were 600 tons of fertilizer-making chemicals inside the plant -- nearly three times the amount that a West, Texas fertilizer plant had when it exploded in 2013, killing 15 and injuring dozens more.
No one has been injured in the Winston Weaver fire.
A 12-person task force made up of several agencies, including the SBI and ATF, is investigating the fire. They know a Weaver employee made a 911 call about the fire from the plant around the time it happened. That employee was not harmed.
A cause is still being investigated.